222 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBOENE. 
Constantia, their predecessors and successors, grant to the prior and 
canons quiet possession of all the tenements and gardens, " curtillagia,'' 
which they had built and laid out on the lands in Selborne, on which 
he and his vassals, " homines," had undoubted right of common ; and 
moreover did grant to the convent the full privilege of that right of 
common, and empowered the religious to build tenements and make 
gardens along the king's highway in the village of Selborne. 
From circumstances put together, it appears that the above were the 
first grants obtained by the Priory in the village of Selborne after it 
had subsisted about thirty-nine years ; moreover, they explain the 
nature of the mixed manor still remaining in and about the village, 
where one field or tenement shall belong to Magdalen College in the 
University of Oxford, and the next to Norton Powlet, Esq., of 
Kotherfield House, and so down the whole street. The case was, that 
the whole was once the property of Gurdon, till he made his grants to 
the convent, since which some belongs to the successors of Gurdon in 
the manor, and some to the college ; and this is the occasion of the 
strange jumble of property. It is remarkable that the tenement and 
crofts which Sir Adam reserved at the time of granting the Plestor 
should still remain a part of the Gurdon Manor, though so desirable an 
addition to the vicarage that is not as yet possessed of one inch of 
glebe at home; but of late, viz., in January, 1785, -Magdalen College 
purchased that little estate, which is life-holding, in reversion, for the 
generous purpose of bestowing it, and its lands, being twelve acres 
(three of which abut on the church-yard and vicarage garden) as an 
improvement hereafter to the living, and an eligible advantage to 
future incumbents. 
The year after Gurdon had bestowed the Plestor on the Priory, viz., 
in 1272, Henry III., King of England, died, and was succeeded by his 
son Edward. This magnanimous prince continued his regard for 
Sir Adam, whom he esteemed as a brave man, and made him warden, 
custos" of the forest of Woolmer.^' Though little emolument might 
* Since the letters respecting "Woolmer-forest and Ayles-holt, pp. 14 — 26, were 
Ijrinted, the author has been favoured with the following extracts : — 
"In the 'Act of Resumption, 1 Hen, VII.' it was provided, that it be not 
prejudicial to 'Harry at Lode, ranger of our forest of Wolmere, to him by oure 
letters patents before tyme gevyn. ' " — Rolls of Pari., vol. vi. p. 370, 
"In the 11 Hen. VII., 1495, 'Warlham (Vardleham) and the office of forest 
(forester) of Wolmere,' were held by Edmund, duke of Suffolk." — Rolls, ib. 474. 
"Act of general pardon, 14 Hen. VIII., 152.S, not to extend to 'Rich. Bp. of 
Wynton (bishop Fox) for any seizure or forfeiture of liberties, &c., within the 
forest of Wolmer, Alysholt, and Newe Forest ; nor to any person for waste, &c. , 
within the manor of Wardlam, or parish of Wardlam (Wardleham) ; nor to 
abusing, &c., of any office or fee, within the said forests of Wolmer or Alysholt, 
or the said park of Wardlam.' " — County Suth't. — Rolls prefixt to 1st Vol. of Journals 
of the Lords, p. xciii. b. 
To these may be added some other particulars, taken from a book lately 
published, entitled "An Account of all the Manors, Messuages, Lands, &c., in 
the different Counties of England and Wales, held by Lease from the Crown ; as 
contained in the Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the State 
and Condition of the Royal Forests, &c." London, 1787. 
" Southampton. 
P. 64. ''A fee-farm rent of 31L 2s. lid. out of the manors of East and West 
Wardleham ; and also the office of lieutenant or keeper of the forest or chase of 
Aliceholt and Wolmer, with all offices, fees, commodities, and privileges thereto 
belonging. 
